Jacqueline and Windson. Photo: Personal Archive

Windson Ramos and Jacqueline Amorim are two brown belt competitors on the Checkmat team. Local to Brazil and now training in California, they travel often to compete around the U.S., Abu Dhabi and elsewhere they can win some titles. The duo traveled to Azusa, CA over the weekend of Oct. 4 & 5 to test their skills at the 2014 IBJJF World Jiu-Jitsu No-Gi Championship. They both came out on top.

Windson, 22 years old, won the brown belt male adult light-feather division and 20-year-old Jacqueline, after coming short of the gold in her brown belt adult featherweight division, captured the gold in the absolute.

Catching up with the couple, they talk with GRACIEMAG about their time at the Worlds No-Gi and their training together:

GRACIEMAG: How many matches did you have at the Worlds No-Gi in Azusa and which was the toughest?

Windson on top. Photo: Erin Herle

WINDSON RAMOS: I had four matches: three ended in submission and one ended in points. All of my matches were the hardest, but I was more prepared, more focused than my opponents.

JACQUELINE AMORIM: I had three matches: two submissions and in the final of the absolute I won by referee decision. The hardest match for me was the final of the absolute because the girl was bigger than me. I tried to play my game but the match ended in a referee decision. This was the hardest part because you do not know who the judge will choose to win.

How long have you been training?

WINDSON: I starting training when I was ten years old in Manaus at Club Pina. Now I’m training at checkmat with my coach Carlos Vieira Holanda and Lucas Leite.

JACQUELINE: I starting training when I was six years old in Manaus at Club Pina/Checkmat and now I’m training with Lucas Leite as well.

Do you train together? What is the benefit of training together as a couple?

WINDSON: Yes, we train together every day. We do drill together, which is very good because we learn and help each other. When we do something wrong in the match we return to training and correct it. It helps both on the technical side, but also psychological.

What did it feel like to win the worlds?

Jacqueline in the absolute final. Photo: Erin Herle

WINDSON: Winning the worlds for me was a dream come true since childhood. I promised my mother that one day I would be a world champion and I got it. I’m very happy for this. Me and Jacque are very happy for this achievement together because this is our first world title at brown belt and conquering it together is very rewarding. We will continue to help each other to improve every day.

Mansher and Dillon close out the brown belt male absolute. Photo: Erin Herle

The brown belts at the 2014 IBJJF World Jiu-Jitsu No-Gi Championship fought their matches on Sunday, Oct. 5 inside the Felix Event Center in Azusa, CA.

The divisions began the day and ran all the way through until the very end, only taking a break for the black belt finals in the middle. The brown belt male absolute title was shared among two students of Marcelo Garcia Academy in NYC. A week prior, the team swept the divisions from feather to heavyweight winning gold in each with one close-out in middleweight. Those middleweights, Dillon Danis and Jonathan Satava repeated the same feat in Azusa. Matheus Diniz went up a weight class at the Pan and won the heavyweight division there but went back down to his medium-heavy division at the Worlds and earned another gold there. Featherweight Joel Burgess conquered the Pan and earned a bronze in the Worlds.

Mansher in the lightweight final. Photo: Erin Herle

Mansher Singh Khera won the lightweight division after three matches and entered the absolute alongside Dillon. The two met in the finals and the title was given to Dillon, who had three matches of his own in middleweight before meeting Jon in the finals.

Dillon wins the semi-final with a kneebar. Photo: Erin Herle

Mansher defeated an ultra-heavyweight, a heavyweight and a super-heavyweight in the absolute using his single-leg x-guard. Dillon faced an ultra-heavyweight, and two other middleweights on his way to the gold. The podium was shared with super-heavyweight silver medalist Pedro Araujo of Gracie Barra and middleweight William Durkee of Fight Sports.

Jaqueline after she won the absolute. Photo: Erin Herle

The female absolute was conquered by featherweight Jaqueline Amorim of Checkmat, who was able to redeem herself from losing her one match in her weight division. The new brown belt, who won both 2013 and 2014 purple belt featherweight at gi worlds, faced two lightweights in the first and second rounds to get to the finals. Her opponent in the finals, Alexis Du Frense of Checkmat as well, attempted to pass Jaqueline’s guard but it was a referee decision that ended the match. In a cathartic moment, Jaqueline’s hand was raised and she collapsed as she realized the gold was hers.

See the full results here: http://static.ibjjfdb.com/Campeonato/000313/en-US/Results.pdf 

Check out full photos of the brown belt divisions:

Gutemberg after his win in the absolute. Photo: Erin Herle

The blue and purple belt male adult divisions at the 2014 IBJJF World Jiu-Jitsu No-Gi Championship were no joke on Saturday, Oct. 5 in Azusa, CA. Both absolute brackets held multiple fights each for whichever athlete made it to the final.

In the blue belt absolute, Devhonte Johnson was able to earn the gold that he missed in his heavyweight division. The Carvalho BJJ Academy student was not able to capture the win in his final match against Johan Romming and received the silver medal due to a 4-0 points loss. But he was motivated to do well in the open weight and to repeat his achievement at the Pan No-Gi by winning gold in the absolute.

Devhonte submits with an armbar. Photo: Erin Herle

Devhonte had three matches in the open and the toughest were the finals and the semi-final. In the semi-final, Josh Valles’ guard was tough to pass. “Josh has an impassable guard. I tried to take his back and failed and he tried to take my back at the end. It was a back and forth battle,” he says of the semis. In the finals, Australian Tobias Green gave Devhonte a tough match as well. He also went against him in the No-Gi Pans one week prior in weight and absolute. At the Worlds they met twice again. “This was my fourth time fighting him. I swept him twice in the match to win. He’s very strong and resilient and when I fought him in the semis of the weight division luck was on my side when I got out of the darce choke.”

In the purple belt absolute, the Pan No-Gi double gold champion conquered the same feat in Azusa. Gutemberg Pereira of GFTeam won four matches in the super-heavyweight division and also four in the absolute. He had five submissions during the day. His toughest match was the first match of the absolute because of his opponents’ flexibility and he only won by two advantages.

Gutemberg in the absolute. Photo: Erin Herle

The accomplishment meant a lot to him and his path. “When I win it’s gratification for all the obstacles I have to pass day to day–my daily struggles. My biggest inspiration is my mom,” says the 20-year-old.

Raquel going for the choke. Photo: Erin Herle

The females had their own exciting matches going on opposite the males. The blue belt open dwindled down to two medium-heavyweights, a rematch from the medium-heavy final. Raquel Paaluhi of Maui Jiu-Jitsu earned the win in the open weight over Ambar Villagran of Checkmat. Ambar, from Sweden, earned the gold in the division. The podium was shared with Lauren Murphy, the middleweight gold medalist and Crystal Demopoulos a light featherweight who earned silver earlier in the day.

The final of the purple belt female absolute. Photo: Erin Herle

Purple belt females had a war with multiple girls in different weight classes. The final came down to Jessica da Silva Oliveira of Gracie Barra and Heather Raftery of Fight Sports. Jessica took the win and Judith Gomes shared third with Ana Talita de Oliveira Alencar, both featherweights.

See full results here: http://static.ibjjfdb.com/Campeonato/000313/en-US/Results.pdf

And a full photo gallery of the divisions:

Mackenzie Dern earned a spot in the final of the female black belt absolute. Photo: Erin Herle

The first day of the 2014 World Jiu-Jitsu No-Gi Championship ended with the black belt match-ups set up for tomorrow, Oct. 5. The new venue on the campus of Azusa Pacific University in Azusa, CA accommodated many athletes in and out of the mat areas.

The black belt absolute was a small number of the athletes but the talent was plenty. There were a total of seven females who signed up for the bracket. The matches were completed up until the final, which will be held tomorrow.

Here is how the matches panned out:

Leanna Dittrich of Fight Sports defeated Andresa Correa of Alliance by a triangle submission. As the match began, Andresa went for a nice ankle lock. Leanne stuck it out and earned a submission of her own that ended the match.

Mackenzie Dern of Gracie Humaita defeated Nyjah Easton of Team Lloyd Irvin by one advantage that was earned at the very start in the match. Mackenzie held Nyjah in her closed guard and the later part of the match had Nyjah with Mackenzie in her guard.

Luiza Monteiro of PSLPB Cicero Costha defeated new black belt Sijara Eubanks of Team Lloyd Irvin by kneebar. Sijara worked the pass, the two went into the 50/50 position and while Sijara attacked Luiza’s foot with a toehold, Luiza secured the kneebar.

In the semi-final, Mackenzie defeated Leanna by 3-0 points, 4-0 advantages. Leanna shot in for a takedown in the beginning of the match and Mackenzie defended and went to the back. Mackenzie stayed with one hook for most of the match as Leanna defended but Mackenzie was eventually able to earn a guard pass which gave her the 3 point lead and a spot in the final.

In the other semi-final, Gabi Garcia of Alliance defeated Luiza by an armbar. Gabi pulled guard, swept and closed in as she attacked the arm and a spot in the final opposite Mackenzie.

Stay tuned for the final female black belt absolute match between Mackenzie Dern and Gabi Garcia tomorrow, Oct. 5. Catch the livestream at www.ibjjftv.com

Check out a full photo gallery: